Mountain Biking - What wheels are you riding?

I'm looking into building my own wheels and wondered, what is everyone else riding?

Hand-built or factory-built?

If you built them or had them built, what did you look for or specify?

I have a hand-built set (by me) that are a set of Mavic D321's laced to some Profile Racing hubs with DT swiss 14 gauge spokes and aluminum nipples.

They are getting kinda old, but they are still round and true and better than any wheelset I can afford at the moment.

I prefer Mavic rims for a build up, because they are straighter and rounder than Sun or even Velocity rims and are easier to build w/o having to compensate for an ovalized rim. IOW, their tolerances are tighter than other manuf. I used. (in general, not everytime)

If I had the money, I'd consider a new wheelset, A set of Chris King hubs laced to ?, I dunno. Not an issue right now.

A good set of machine built wheels that are "medium" duty are some Sun Rhyno's. I ran a set of these for a couple years with only minor truing. Well, I did have to replace the front, but that was a big crash and burn and had nothing to do with the quality of the rim/wheel.

Mavic Crossland.. great and a great price.

factory built, Azonic Outlaws.

I looked for: strong and economical. I had the Formula disc hubs already; so I just neeeded spokes and rims. I use straight-gauge 14s and old-school Sun Mammoths are a bit heavy but have a great strength-to-price ratio for my needs.

I enjoy lacing wheels so like building my own. I'm not good at truing them, though, and I don't have a truing stand; so when I get done lacing and getting things snugged up, I take it to the shop for truing.

I"m picking up my Hope Pro II hubes laced to Mavic 717 rims today. Hand built by the small bike shop I go to. Black hubs and black rims, they gonna be sweeeeeeeeeeeeeet.

I hand built my XT hubs on Salsa Delgado Disc rims - so far they've been great for my first wheel build. Due to school and just being busy i've not gotten to ride them a ton, but they have held up well on everything i've throw at them

fwiw, the head tech at the shop i work at runs king hubs on delgado rims on his Yeti 575 (he built) and he's had virtually no issues with them either

I have some handbuilt wheels. I wanted something relatively light and strong for cross country use but also with good engagement in the hub for when I wanted to stop and play around on logs and rock formations. I also wanted the mechanic who works with me to do it since he builds sweet wheels. I have a set of Mavic 717 rims (silver) laced to Chris King hubs (silver) with DT Swiss supercomp spokes (unfortunately not made in silver) and aluminum nips.

A factory spec that was lying around. Hand-built.

I'm running Double Track hoops on Specialized Stout hubs:o laced with straight DT Swiss 14 guage spokes and brass nipples. Handbuilt by a lbs.
Super heavy, but super strong!

I don't know how to respond to this poll. My front wheel is factory, but I replaced the rear with a hand made one after I had spokes break a couple of times.

Joe

DT Hugi Hubs with 217 Ceramic and Wheelsmith double butted.

Pink Chris King ISO hubs with Bontrager Mustang rims handbuilt by Dave Thomas @ Speed Dream Wheels.

AC 350 disk. Super light and super strong.

I voted for my favorite, but I have several:

Mavic Ksyrium Elites (factory built, front rebuilt by LBS after a crash)
Mavic Cosmos (factory built)
28/32h Open Pros on Ultegra, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
700c 36h Bontrager Mavericks on Ultegra, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
700c 32h Sun CR-18's on LX, DT Champ straight spokes (built them myself)
32h Mavic 517's on XTR, DT Revo/Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h Sun 0-degree XC on XT, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h WTB Dual Duty XC on LX, DT Comp butted spokes (built them myself)
32h Mavic 317's on Stout/Deore, straight 15g spokes (factory spec)

The last factory spec wheelset has been a big disappointment. The rear wheel is either machine or moron built and doesn't stay true for long. If I'm going to go through the trouble of detensioning and retensioning I would just as soon do a complete rebuild with DT Comp 14/15 butted spokes for better durability since that is my aggressive XC bike.

IMHO, the Ksyrium Elites don't offer that much bang for the buck either. The Open Pros on Ultegras seem much better for centuries and they're about $300 cheaper. I also love the stealth factor of riding standard 3X wheels amongst all the boutique setups and finishing just as strong.

My old road bike also had a wheelset built by the LBS, good but not great. They're in business to make a profit and aren't about to invest an extra afternoon of work to achieve absolutely ideal spoke tension. I don't always invest that much time myself but it took 4 hours before I was satisfied with the spoke tension on the 517/XTR rear wheel.

lets see, currently on my bike WTB Dual Duty factory build, arriving Monday Bontrager King Earl, to hold me over and get me riding on my new fork until I drop the dough for custom wheels, also gives me time to absolutely decide what I want.

:D

http://www.kymba.org/kymba/images/photoalbum/2/DSC00962.jpg

On one of my old bikes I used to have some Mavic Crossrides. I don't know if they're still made but they were the cheapest full mavic build at the time, and they have put me off factory build. They were a pain to tru, as when turning the spoke key the whole spoke seemed to twist rather than tighten or loosen. They also looked like it would be a pain to replace spokes but I never had to try.

Since those I have always ran XT hubs with DT spokes and Mavic Rims (521 or 517).

My two new bikes which are hopefully arriving early next year will both have mavic rims (321 & 717) on Hope Pro II hubs with DT spokes. I have no doubts that I will be happy with those combinations...

Both, I have XT/Rhyno Lite's built by a shop and a set of CrossRide's.

I like them both, but I feel like the Mavics are slightly fragile. I don't push them as hard as the XT/Sun's.


I hope my next set will be:
DT 240 front hub
Rohloff Rear hub
Sun EX 5.1d rims

Hand built by my shop.

Mavic 321Ds laced to DT Swiss hubs.

DIY. I chose my current build because the parts were basically free through swaps. Mavic 317s disks on DMR hubs. Black DT swiss 15g spokes. They've held up well, but I suspect I'll be needing some heavier duty rims in the near future with all the urbanish stuff I've been trying out lately.
It's hard to go wrong with XT hubs, as long as you know how to repack bearings once a season or so.

Mavic 717 silver on Hope Ultralight with 32 DT Swiss DB
Mavic 719 black on Hope XC with 36 DT Swiss DB

Go figure...

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j301/minesbroken/P10100054.jpg
cheap bontrager select disc...havent broken them...havent bent them....not too heavy...hubs are garbage...but like I said...cheap :)

faktory Alex DH20 rims. they aren't the ****, but good enough.

Hope Bulb 20mm fronts on both bikes; one with Syncros DP-25 rim, one with a Mavic disc specific something or other. 15/16 DB spokes and alloy nips.

Rear #1 is a Chris King ISO disc with a Mavic 717 something or other, 15ga spokes, alloy nips.

Rear #2 is a Hadley disc with a DT EX 5.1, 14/15 DB spokes, alloy nips. Brand new, unridden. Just picked it up yesterday to replace the Hope Bulb rear that I managed to mangle the internals of somehow, in just over a year. Was working beautifully up until the last minute..... Hope is sending me a new hub; selling that to help defray the cost of the Hadley.

Each bike's pair had matching rims to start with, but with both rear wheels needing rebuilds in the last couple months, I just had the builder use what he had handy that was comparable to the original rim in size and weight.

This will be next season's set - - as long as Syncros re-ups me :)

http://www.syncros.com/images/wheelset_fr_sm.jpg

I build my own.

Demolition Zero laced to an Odyssey hub, handbuilt buy me on the back and some junker I had laying around on the front. But after christmas I'll be building a Hazardlite or Araya rb-11 to a Propper hub for the front.

On my MTB's it's all factory.

Sun DS2+XC laced to standard shimano 475 in the rear, and specialized stout up front with regular stainless factory spokes and brass nipples.

They've survived everything ive thrown at them, and trust me, im not made of butter.

On the rockhopper I have the stock CR18 wheels, but the rear wheel was rebuilt with heavy gauge DT spokes after a lot of broken spoke problems.

On the Giant Rincon (which I just brought home yesterday!) the stock wheels are on there for now. I'm going to leave them on during the 90 day warranty period my LBS gives that way if any problems arise they can be taken care of. Afterwards I'll likely go with a factory built Rhynolite wheelset I have.

I build my own wheels--it's a bit of a hobby. My front is a Mavic X221 rim 32H on an alloy formula front hub (cheapo hub). The mounted rear is the same rim on a Shimano Acera Parallex Hub. My spare rear wheel is an Alex DA-22 built on a 36 Hole Shimano RM-40 hub. All of them are built with stainless steel 14G straight gauge spokes. The mounted rear has DT-swiss and the front and spare are generic spokes.

Depending on which bike, I have hand built by me, hand built by LBS, and factory built.

For my hand built wheels, the component requirements varied depending on the bike and the use of the wheel.

Hand-built or factory-built?

If you built them or had them built, what did you look for or specify?

I have 3 hand built sets.

On my commuter: I built the wheelset. Mavic X717s + Hope XC hubs. Rims because they are light, hubs because they are pretty.

On my MTB: I had a mechanic do the build. X717s + Hope XC front, Hope Bulb rear. The bulb rear as it has a decent number of engagement points. I almost went Shimano XT on the rear because they are so much quieter.

On my old road bike: Cheapo Alexis(?) rims, 105 hub. The bike only cost $90 so I was't going to have a rear wheel that cost more than the bike :)

3 sets:

Mavic Crossride hubs/rims

Mavic X317's laced to XT 756 hubs

Mavic XM117's laced to Deore Hubs

All machine built i believe.

Homebuilt. XC. Mavic X517 with XT hubs currently. About to build 28 hole Mavic 317's with XTR hubs. All these new wheels and discs just weigh to much. Learn some bike handling/landing skills and stick to rim brakes.

i gravitate towards Sun rims due to past motorcycle ties. i also built some DtSwiss wheels for a road bike. i have a pair of Velocities waiting to build. i don't forsee any problems. regarding the Sun and DtSwiss, they both trued nicely for me.

i also gravitate towards DtSwiss spokes and nipples.

DtSwiss has awesome customer service. i have talked to dave a couple times and i didn't get the impression i was bothering him.

since i am light weight i lean towards the lesser of things. lower flange hole numbers, thinner spokes, aluminum nipples, lighter rims depending on application.

for hubs i have built up WOOdman, DtSwiss, and i have a pair of Hadleys and Stealth hubs currently waiting....will do next week after school lets out.

i enjoy building my own wheels. they all came out great, even the first pair i did.

Salsa Gordo's on Deore hubs laced 3x with DT Competition spokes. Cheap, not too heavy, absolutely bomb proof. Still have yet to be trued or the hubs adjusted.

I still run the factory wheels on my 04 bike.. Alex rims laced to deore hubs.. holding up well, around 2500 miles on them... have trued then once or twice and also jammed a chain/rear mech into them a couple of times with no ill effects(yet).

The type of riding I do requires the cheapest wheelsets available.